New Barriers to the Residents in the Informal Settlement “Cukaricka suma”

For almost a week, the residents of the informal settlement “Cukaricka suma” have not been able to enter or leave the settlement by their vehicles. Specifically, last Saturday the barriers were set at the entrances to the settlement, and prevent the vehicles from accessing the settlement. Given that residents of the settlement mainly collect secondary raw materials and that they need vehicles to transport secondary raw materials, this practically means that they have been prevented from working for almost a week, and have been living with no incomes. In addition, neither ambulance vehicles nor fire-fighters can access the settlement.

This is the settlement mainly inhabited by internally displaced Roma from Kosovo, who were forced to leave their homes 18 years ago and have been living in this settlement since then in the improvised housing units without any infrastructure, in full poverty and utterly inhumane conditions. Despite many-year announcement of the competent institutions and bodies that they will start solving the housing issue of the settlement “Cukaricka padina”, it still has not happened. Moreover, by setting the barriers at the entrance to the settlement, their position has additionally worsened, bringing them closer to the edge of survival

It remains an open question why the authorities failed the test of proportionality, since setting the barrier is certainly not a fair balance between the general interest of the community and protection of the fundamental rights of individuals.